Panicum torridum

Growth Requirements

General

    Panicum torridum

Native grasses should be incorporated more in home and commercial landscapes.They are non invasive and fill in gaps in the landscape by adding another element of texture and enhancing more showier natives. Th(Ref. LISCH article) https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/201309-landscape-hawaii-magazine-sep-oct-2013-issue/40262732#11

This is an inviting grass as most native Panicum spp. tend to be due their downy foliage and delicate floral arrangement.

As with many Panicum spp. new plants will appear after heavy rain.

But as an annual the seeds can be immediately re-sown or collected and stored in a refrigerator for later use. Kākonakona do best on the drier side and in windy areas.

Soil must be well drained 

This grass will tolerant some shading in the day, but needs sun the majority of the day otherwise they tend to get spindly and do not grow to their full potential in their brief lifespan. 

They can be spaced a foot or less apart for a groundcover or planted randomly as an accent. 

Tolerances

• Drought

• Wind

• Salt Spray

• Heat

Soils

• Clay

• Sand

• Cinder

• Organic

• Coral

I got to this grass to grow to over 2 feet in full sun and windy area, but it can grow to over 3 ft in its natural habitat.

Pests and Diseases

    Panicum torridum Pests & Diseases page for treatments.  

Ants, scale, mealybugs, aphids, thrips, locusts, and occasionally caterpillars. Black sooty mold can be a problem if over watered or there is insufficient drainage. 

Special Features and Information

General

    Panicum torridum

The Torrid panicgrass (Panicum torridum) [3] belongs to Grass family or Poaceae [Nature Clearly] with perhaps as many as 500 species. There are twelve endemic species in the Hawaiian Archipelago, with five of them rare or endangered.

There are also several weedy relatives such as the ubiquitous Guinea grass (Megathyrsus maximus), formerly Panicum maximum.

The former generic name Panicum is an old Latin name for the common millet (Setaria italica).

The current generic name Megathyrsus is from the Greek mega, biggest, and thyrsos, thyrse* in reference to the inflorescense of this grass.

The specific epithet maximus is Latin for biggest.

* A thyrse is a compact panicle having an obscured main axis and cymose subaxes, making its paniculate nature hard to discern.

Kākonakona is the most common and widespread of the native species of Panicum. Sadly, some have consider this native grass as "a weed." [5]

This species is closely related to Panicum ramosius, another less common endemic. Certain collections with merely velvety puberulent leaves may possibly be a result of hybridization between the 2 species.

It is likely that this species was formerly a more important component of dry lowland vegetation, where it probably grew intermixed with native shrubs. [2]

Modern Use

This has referred to as a "good forage" grass. [1] In 1957, Botanist Otto Degener noted that "P. torridum is plentiful enough locally to be of some value as forage." [4]

Sadly, these statemnets have proved to be true and today native grasses as not as common as in the past. Competition with introduced grasses, fires and over grazing by ungulates have greatly reduced native grasses and grasslands.

Why is called "panicgrass"? https://vnps.org/potowmack/botanic-names-panic/

Hawaiian Name

    Panicum torridum

Hākonakona is a Niʻihau name for this grass.

Etymology

    Panicum, like millet grain, and torridum, dried up, of very hot places [Gledhill 2008].